Mashups

MashupsTaylor Jones, Angela Duran, Yolanda Carmony-MiesWhat is a Mashup?A web mashup combines web content such as news article, blogs, photos and videos with some kind of other functionality, creating a service from two or more different sources. There are numerous mashups on the web, for example: data mashups, consumer mashups, business mashups, education mashups, media mashups, and many more. Mashups take a combination of information, mix it up and deliver in a new creative and unique way. The end result is creating another way of looking at the information. The user can take a normally mundane source of data or API (application programming interface) and think of a way to make it interesting. The combination of data or the new way of presenting the information can provide extra value when the mashup can be even more useful than the original websites. An educator can mashup different educational sites, create new and innovative services, aggregate and stitch together the third party data and engage the student while being creative with their lesson and capturing students interest. Mashups are a new breed of web-based data integration growing across the internet. The key to a mashup is the power of information obtained from the internet. One of the most recognizable forms of a mashup, are in the form of applications for mobile devices like the iPhone. Mashup applications like language translators, restaurant finders and many more available for these devices by the thousands.What is a Mashup?Image taken from: http://mashstream.com/semantic-web/about-mashups-and-linked-data/

This image shows how data of information can be taken from multiple sources and integrated into one site (mashup).

Take a look at some examples and see how they can be used.www.completeschools.com

Complete Schools Mashup

The mash-up that truly grabbed my attention is the Complete Schools mash-up found at www.completeschools.com. This mash-up consists of data from EBAY, Google Search, and Yahoo Answers and delivers a single source web-page on colleges and schools in the United States. The mash-up allows users to search colleges by the degrees offered, universities by their state region, private and public schools in a certain area, and also has a top rated function for educational establishments. The site does this by using U.S Department of Education data embedded with Yahoo answers to deliver relevant questions and answers about colleges and universities in the U.S (www.completeschools.com ).Complete Schools Mashup The great thing about this mash-up is that it is very user friendly. The average person could use this mash-up to perform a simple search of the schools in their prospective areas. More importantly though, a parent or student could use the site to research potential colleges that offer the types of programs they are looking for to enhance future development. From an education standpoint, the mash-up could be used as a presentation tool in the elementary and high school levels to make students aware of their educational options. Or as an academic advisor, a person could provide students with institutions that meet their academic and location requirements for post-secondary education. The advantages for a site like this are numerous but two very important advantages are adequate information to make an informed decision, and immediate access to information that would take time to locate otherwise. The fact that this mash-up provides access to information on all the universities and schools in the nation at a click of a button is phenomenal and provides consumers the opportunity to get all the information they deem necessary on a school or program and make a decision. This process definitely eases the burden of school selection. For instance, when I was looking at colleges in 1997, I had to browse through hundreds of brochures and call the institutions to get answers to technical questions. If I would have had access to this type of system I could have used it to filter the requirements I was looking for and saved an insurmountable amount of time.

Take a look at some examples and see how they can be used.http://www.epoliticalpower.com/

ePoliticalPowerEpoliticalpower is an online mashup site that offers a variety of mashed up data bases closely connected to voters, candidates and causes. The ePolitical Power mashup includes biographical, financial and campaign information on national, state, and local levels searched by zip codes. This site has a wealth of information on the political candidates as well as who holds office in the state you live in by entering your zip code. This site offers several newsfeeds from all over the United States, made simple for the user to only browse one site instead of several. ePolitcal Power focuses on candidates and politicians with the need to consider how the internet provides political candidates with a high touch medium to reach new audiences and to enhance the existing constituent relationships. In 2008 55% of the voters turned to the internet for information on the Presidential election, changing the way winning candidates campaign. This site offers three different power levels that you can register for with each one of them offering more, the higher level you register for. For example, you can access national database sorted by state of elected officials in some cases down to the county level these levels are intended for candidates who are getting their name and office advertised through a high traffic mashup site. ePoliticalPowerAn average person may use this site to retrieve information on the 2012 Presidential election from newsfeeds, locally, how to register, learn about the candidates, career politicians and the issues they campaigning for. Users can either do basic or extensive research, depending on what they are looking. The site is very user friendly and self explanatory. The ePolitial Power site can be used to compare the many different opinions of a candidates or career politicians. With the newsfeeds offered a user can determine what they want to read, who they want to vote for and what the issues stand for. The newsfeeds give the factual information on several topics.

ePoliticalPowerThe site can create teaching and learning in the classroom by allowing students to understand what the presidential election is all about in Social Studies. Students love to engage in adult decisions. I know my daughter will come home and ask me questions on issues and who I am voting for. She said she would like to work the polls to see all the candidates trying to get last minute votes. She knows this because along with the teacher, I have her come and vote with me to see what the hype is all about. It is very important that we teach our students and children about voting and their rights as a United States citizen. Educators can make a game with the Presidential Election so they can research the candidates. Asking students who supports this issue and why. Being creative with them, having them blog or make a video. Students have textbooks that give information on this but textbooks dont have videos or blogs or current data. I am not an educator; if I were I think this constant wealth of updated information from the internet is easier than the textbooks that are outdated.ePoliticalPowerWhen I researched this site, I started going into every tab to see what was offered and it had everything a 21st century Presidential Election needed for the internet. I feel a Social Studies educator would benefit greatly by having the students view the site. The site shows the contributions, how to fundraise, how to get donations online, absentee ballots, issues and candidates. It may be used in Math also with the fundraising and how much each candidate has and spent and how much people donated. Also, by having the students keep track of electoral votes by keeping an eye on who is winning each state. I feel this site can be used in many subjects.

Take a look at some examples and see how they can be used.www.perspctv.com

Perspctv MashupPerspctv is an online search engine (mashup site) that uses keywords to search different networks and gives the most recent information on the topic. The networks the search engine searches on are twitter, blogs, and recent news (websites or news outlets). It will compare, analyze, and monitor your keywords entered into the search engine. The search engine will compare up to 5 terms or keywords at a time. For example I can type in Tigers, playoffs, sports and it will search for the keywords and bring up the most recent twitter posts, blogs, and any recent news relating to the keywords.An average person may use this site to search for the most recent sports talk (as I gave an example of above), to research information, or find the most recent information on a favorite topic. The site can be used to compare the many opinions and factual information about a topic. The Twitter account may show quick perceptions of a topic, the blog may require more reading but can give much more information and also be based on opinion, and the news outlets may give factual information on the topic.

PerspctvThis site can benefit teaching and learning in the classroom by allowing quick access to multiple sources and by having the most recent information. Quick access to multiple sources is important because when a student is researching information they need to provide a well-written paper with many sources. With this search engine the student has 3 different networks available within one site. They can use keywords to search and find information easily. Another benefit of this site is the information is current and up to date. A student can still use textbooks provided in a classroom but as a lot of us already know, not all textbooks are up to date. To have access to current information provides the student with knowledge they may not have access to within a textbook. As an educator, I may find teaching easier by searching for up to date information to teach to my students.

PerspctvAs I was playing around with the site, I started typing in many different topics. I searched Campaign, Presidents and it gave me information about Barak Obamas campaign within twitter, blogs, and news outlets. If I were to research about campaigning I can see and compare opinions about campaigns, the amount being raised, what the president is doing to raise money, and personal blogs regarding a campaign. A student can use this to gather information pertaining to a social studies topic and use multiple sources to write a paper about the topic. The site may also be used to look up science topics such as the process of photosynthesis. I typed these terms and information came up explaining different processes of photosynthesis. For example, on one twitter post a photograph was posted about the process of how these grass portraits were made through photosynthesis. On a blog site it explained the changing of leaf colors through the process of photosynthesis and on a news outlet they explained in depth about photosynthesis. Each of these 3 informational outlets was posted within the past 5 days. I think this is excellent to use for students who are just trying to gather more information on something they may not understand to help them understand.

PerspctvIn conclusion, I feel this site would be most beneficial to people looking to investigate and research information. The site gives information in multiple networks. The information can be given in opinion pieces or written to inform and give factual information. A student or teacher can really benefit from this site by finding the most recent information given and compare it to what they know already. It can be used to compare different sources and to write different types of papers (opinion, research, informational).

In ConclusionProviding consumers with new sources of information by simply combining existing pools of pages and data, the mash-up is by far one of the best resources for information and education. The mash-up allows an educator or an individual with a particular interest access to information that they deem important. For instance, mash-ups could allow educators to look at ACT data across the United States to plan, change, or implement new curriculum in the hopes of score improvement. Or a fisherman from Toledo, Ohio could use a mash-up to view all of the fishing locations in the United States in hopes of catching a trophy fish. In either case, the information was only made possible through the creativity of an individual who decided to incorporate information from multiple sources into a new source page. The value for this type of data is unlimited as long as there is a consumer interested in the combination of information. The potential for mash-ups especially in the field of education is great as long as the instructor is creative enough to use the information in an informative way. The risks and problems of mash-ups surround invalid, incorrect, or skewed information. Since mash-ups are a result of different APIs there is always the possibility of bad information from one of the API interfaces. Its like the old quote, garbage in, equals garbage out, which shows how bad information in the development of a mash-up will lead to bad output information for the consumer. If this information is then used in instruction then a person could be learning the wrong thing. In either case, the benefits of the mash-up and the unlimited capability of the mash-up when incorporated with innovation far outweigh any risks in the utilization of mash-ups. Mash-ups are here to stay and will continue to grow but it is up to us to incorporate them into the classroom.